How To Dry An Open Gumpaste Flower
Decorating By TabbieCakes Updated 4 Sep 2010 , 2:33am by TabbieCakes
Hi Everyone! Question ... I'm making open Peony gumpaste flowers. You know the ones with the gumpaste baby (from that great mold!) inside. I can't quite figure out the best way to get the flower to dry with the petals spaced open. I feel like making a closed rose would be easier because each petal wraps around the center cone, so only the tips of the petals are separated away from the center. My practice flower came out okay, but only because the petals were a little thick. I want to get them thin and ruffled as they should be, but when I pick up each layer after veining and ruffling, they're very floppy (I'm using a 5 petal cutter peony cutter). Should I be drying them separately on graduating size "balls" and then putting the layers together after they dry? And how do I keep the ruffles from flattening out as it hangs to dry?
I saw someone on YouTube drying her flowers with wads of cotton in between the layers of petals. Is this the best way? I'm not so much worried about how to keep the center open where the baby will be placed, it's the subsequent outer layers I'm not sure about.
Anyway, sorry for the length of this ... it's my first posted question!
What kind of gumpaste are you using? I made an open rose with a baby in the center with Nicholas Lodge's gumpaste recipe. The petals were stiff enough to hold their shape. I started with the bottom layer and let it dry for a few minutes, added the next layer, let it dry a bit, and so on. I put rolled up pieces of plastic wrap between some of the petals for more definition. That's easier than cotton because the gumpaste doesn't stick to it, and you can scrunch it with tweezers to get it out from between the dried petals without breaking them.
Thank you for responding so quickly! I'm using Satin Ice ready made. I'm new to all this and figured I'd try one thing at a time and not test the fates by trying to make my own gumpaste. The plastic wrap idea sounds great! Should I not be using ready made? Is that why its so floppy? Thanks again!
I've only tried Satin Ice once, and it was a lot softer than the homemade. Maybe kneading in a bit of tylose would help it...when I tried it, I was comparing gumpastes with a friend, so I didn't experiment with adding anything to it, just noticed it was a lot softer than what I make.
Thank you so much Texas_Rose! I will try all of your suggestions. I really appreciate your help. I love being part of this site. Everyone is so willing to share and I'm learning tons! Priceless.
hi when i make rose's for my babies to sleep in - i use small pieces of foam between the petals to help them stay where i want them.
I was taught to use small pieces of Kleenex or paper towel wadded up to keep them open. They slide right out. The other suggestions are great as well!
Thanks so much purplemosy & Tweeter_Bug98. I really do appreciate your taking the time to respond to my question ... all great ideas! Can't wait to do some more practicing and try everyone's ideas
Satin Ice gumpaste really isn't good for things like flowers/petals. It takes a very long time to dry, and in some instances it never really dries completely. I'd suugest a different brand or making Nick's recipe that Texas_Rose refers to.
Hmmmm ... interesting. Okay. I think I'm gonna try Texas_Rose's idea about adding Tylose powder first, since I already have the SI gumpaste. If that doesn't work I'll try Nicholas Lodge's recipe.
Or what do you think about the gumpaste powders available. The one's where you just add water? I've seen it by CK products I think. Its a 50/50 mix, but I suppose you could control the water if it seems too soft? Has anyone had success using this for making flowers?
I have a tutorial on the peony that demonstrates how I dry my peony to open, it's part 1 of the tutorial, part 2 is next week but that may be to far out for you, here it is anyway.
http://www.thecakerator.com/2010/08/gum-paste-peony-tutorial-part-1.html
I hope this helps.
Thank you Maria_Campos!! I have been looking for a peony tutorial without any luck. Yours is absolutely wonderful! Can't wait for part 2.
Again, thank you, thank you!!
Thanks Maria!!!! So thoughtful of you to respond and to share I visited your blog and am following. My project is actually not due until the beginning of November! Thankfully it got moved forward a month. I'm doing the flowers for my SIL's christening party. My first attempt was nice, but you know us cakers, always trying to improve I can't wait to see Pt. 2. Thanks again so much
P.S. Maria, just looked at your photos. Your work is stunning! I hope to be That Good someday. Keep up the fantastic caking and thanks again for sharing.
I have used cotton balls before to put between petals and also plastic wrap. I didn't like the cotton because it sometimes leaves little pieces behind and it is hard to remove depending on the petals and closeness of them. I like the plastic wrap or even the tissue idea is good. Good luck!!
Thanks Tiffany! Someone recently gave me a tip to use small foam pieces. That sounds great, doesn't it?
One thing I want to mention about that tutorial and that I will be writing a correction about is that the wire petals are dried backwards, the grove is suppose to be in the back, and the front of the petal should be the smooth part, so it should be drying on the apply tray curved smooth side up, if that makes since, if not I will be posting pictures soon anyway. Happy to help!
P.S. Maria, just looked at your photos. Your work is stunning! I hope to be That Good someday. Keep up the fantastic caking and thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for your very kind words, still learning just like you, it's a forever learning process. I wanna be like Mike
I use Wilton's mix quite frequently. I really like it. It dries pretty fast, though, so you might even want to mix it half/half with the Satin Ice. I've mixed Wilton's with Bakels before and really liked the result. Wilton's dries REALLY fast and Bakels doesn't really dry lol !
Awesome tutorial! (And I love Jen Dontz! Her classes are amazing...I learned so much from her!)
I agree with a lot of the other posts.. For gumpaste I only use Nicholas Lodges recipe which i make and have always used so I don't have any other to compare with.. As for drying, I use plastic, foam and napkins, just depending on how I want to shape them while I lay them to shape at the same time. I make a lot of sugar flowers and it is just practice and what works best for you. Sometimes the plastic sticks for me, just a heads up. I also let my flowers dry in the sun on my table too.
Thanks for the reply SugarArtist! Nice signature line. Wish I had some of that Cali sun to dry my flowers in too
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